It's always difficult to get any sort of perspective from a 2D photo, but you have the makings of a very nice mother/daughter tree, with the daughter tree on the right. If you decide to go that route, the daughter tree needs to have a smaller caliper (trunk diameter) than the mother tree. As things are now, the mother tree is the same size as or smaller than the daughter tree. This means you need to reduce the daughter tree considerably and leave a maximum amount of foliage on the mother tree so it can fatten up. At the same time, you need to keep the tree's future in mind, as you envision it. That's usually the hard part for beginners. If this was my tree, I would reduce the daughter tree today, by removing the vertical branches that won't be part of the composition. This plant tends to grow in tufts of foliage at branch ends just behind pruning cuts (like burning bush), so (on the daughter tree), I would remove any end 'tufts' that have multiple branches so there are only 2 secondary branches growing from each main branch. Concentrate on developing only horizontal branches you'll be keeping as part of the future composition. Let the mother tree grow unencumbered by pruning. ANY branches you intend to keep should never have more than 2 branches emanating from any single point - IE, Y's are ok, but 3 branches from the same point will give you trouble down the road because of reverse branch taper, so correct that as soon as it's reasonable to do so on both trees pictured in your posts. As you develop the top of the mother tree, keep in mind it will want to overhang the smaller tree protectively, so as you prune & wire, the main tree will want to move from left to right, as seen now - if we're looking at the best 'front'. One of your tree's most attractive features will undoubtedly be its roots. Experienced judges of bonsai material look there first, so start working on the roots at the first repot time. Reduce heavy roots the most & allow fine roots in the right places to grow unencumbered by pruning. If you lack roots in a particular spot where roots are needed, get after stimulating root growth in that area and work toward a horizontal root system and roots of equal size/spacing. This picture (above) is actually a preparation for layering off the top of a Carpinus koreana with poor roots, but just filling the holes (done with a brad-point drill spun in my fingers) with rooting gel will produce roots where wanted. If your tree has enough trunk below where the two trunks join, it's a good candidate for layering. See this maple's nearly perfect root structure after layering: You can still see the wire I used as a constriction to block the downward flow of photosynthate to roots, which caused a high level of carbohydrates (to enhance rooting) and a nice swelling (trunk flare) to occur immediately above the constriction. I do this to a LOT of trees with weak root systems - it's much easier than fixing them. This is a very impressive root system (Acer b) for such a very young tree - done by drilling the holes & layering off the top - as you saw in the pics above. Any back-budding that occurs low on the trunks - let those branches grow to increase lower trunk diameter. You can remove them later, after they've done their job, but if they occur very close to each other, eliminate one of the branches to reduce swelling and reverse taper. This goes back to the 'no more than 2 branches emanating from any one point'. Al

Duplicate post.

Deadheading flowers in the garden does save a bit of energy that the plant would otherwise use to "slough off" the dead or dying flowers... though, I also feel that if you're feeding your plants well, and taking good care of them, the energy expended is a lot less, and more easily recovered from. I grow mainly indoors, and I allow the scapes, or stalks, to dry up and become unsightly before I cut them off. I have cut off scapes that haven't been completely dry, and I don't like to see the plant "bleed" like that. I think it's the perfect opportunity for insects to enter the bulb, and an unnecessary wound that the bulb must heal from. If I were to cut flowers, I think I might dust the cut wound with an anti-fungal powder just to be on the safe side. I don't think there's a wrong or right answer to cutting the stalk... though, I do think that proper care of the bulbs in the first place is the way to go to avoid having to cut anything off. I'm not convinced you're doing the bulb a favor by "clipping its wings". After all, it did produce buds and then flowers, so it must have a store of decent energy. Just thinking out loud, so to speak... I don't know what the correct answer is. I just know how I handle things. If my bulbs want to flower, I let them. If they want to rest, I let them sleep. Some bulbs are just not very strong, and never will be. Notice how some bulbs shrink or fade in spite of all the care they're given... I think some bulbs are simply destined to expire early. They may be of poor genetic quality. I'm no expert... just a happy gardener! :-)

You should be fine. Keep in mind as you sift responses that there is a difference between "getting away with it" (ie the plant lives) and the plant thriving. Some warm season crops (read as peppers and tomatoes) will not produce as well if they get hit by a light frost or even low temps. If the soil temps stay over 50 you will likely be well set for most things including peppers. As to the cloudy conditions, most every plant would have the odd couple days of no sun in its natural habitat anyway. Not many veggies growing in the Sahara sun.